Transcript

Does all property have to go through probate when a person dies? | Freilich Law | Michael Freilich | freilichlaw.com | (410) 321-0040

No, only probate property. For example, people will frequently be informal about how a house is owned. We find a lot of cases where a spouse will die, and it was in that spouse’s name, and the surviving spouse will remain in the house for years and years and years. And then that person dies and then it goes to their children. But they never went through the formal probate process, so there’s never been an official deed that puts the property from two generations away to where it really ought to be. And that has to go through a probate proceeding and it tends to become much more expensive, because you have to go back and dig up historical information. But again, that has to go through the probate process and there are other things that have to go through probate.